Identity
by Girlfearless
Summary: Semi AU story about Emily Quartermaine's twin sister, Alyssa Zacharra, coming to town after Emily's death. Starts after Diego has been killed, when Michael is missing and Sonny has kidnapped Johnny. Alyssa/Jason pairing. Chapter Four uploaded...
1. Alyssa meet Port Charles

**Title:** Identity

**Author:** Girlfearless AKA Christy

Don't own it, never will, don't even really wish I did right now.

**Authors Note:** Anyone who has read any of my other stories knows that I am, primarily, a writer of Emily fanfiction. This story is going to be a little different—sort of. It is not going to be about Emily, it is going to be about her twin sister Alyssa (and Jason).

**The premise:** Emily and Alyssa's biological mother was not Paige Bowen. Paige Bowen was the sister of the girls' biological father (Dean Rudolph "Rudy" Mitchell) and when they were born Emily was sent to live with Paige and Alyssa was allowed to stay with their father. The girl's biological mother was Gabriella Zacharra, Anthony Zacharra's younger sister. When Dean and Gabriella realized that she was pregnant they knew that they would have to hide the pregnancy from Anthony or he would kill Dean and probably demand that Gabriella have an abortion, especially after it was found out that the babies were twin girls. While Gabriella was pregnant with the girls, Dean's sister, Paige, was also pregnant. Paige had a miscarriage so she offered to take one of the children—she and her husband really couldn't afford to take care of twins and they only wanted one child. So Dean and Gabriella agreed to let Paige raise one of the children…but they didn't know what do with the other child. Eventually they decided that they would tell Anthony that Paige died in childbirth, and send her away along with the baby and her husband, and Dean raised Alyssa as his 'dead' sister's daughter. So after the babies were born Emily was sent to live with Paige and Paige's husband in Arizona and Alyssa stayed with her father as his niece.

Years after the girls were born, Gabriella could no longer handle the stress of lying to her brother about her children and living under his oppression and she committed suicide. The girls, at that time, would have been about five or six years old—Johnny would have just been born, and the stress of seeing another woman have a child also contributed to her suicide. When Alyssa was around ten years old her father told her the truth about who she was to him and her twin sister, but he also warned her that Anthony was never to know the truth. A little while after that (and I am not sure how well this matches up with what's happened on GH because I haven't watched regularly since Emily and Georgie were killed) Claudia was sent away from her home to live with Dean (aka Uncle Rudy) and Alyssa; Claudia was fifteen and Alyssa was ten. Seven years later Dean died of cancer and Anthony admitted that he had known all along that Alyssa was Dean and Gabriella's child; however, he didn't know about Emily and so no one told him.

I think that pretty much brings you all up to speed. As usual, any question or comments and I will try to clear them up. I am trying not to make this too complicated because I don't want this story to have the twists and turns that TRLT does.

As far as when this story is taking place in GH time: Diego has been killed by Nikolas, Jason did hurt his hands though not as badly as he did on the show—he's pretty much okay at this point, Sonny still has Johnny and Michael is still missing. I am honestly not sure how much of the rest of the show will be integrated into this story, as I said I want this one to be simpler than TRLT, but obviously some things will need to be handled so I'll try my best to wrap up those things in the first few chapters so I can get on to the meat of the story which is essentially that this is going to be a ALYSSA/JASON story with Claudia, Johnny, Spinelli, Maxie, probably Sonny and some others playing supporting roles. This will have its angsty (Jason will be falling for a girl who looks like his dead sister, that's going to shake a guy especially a guy who just became a father and is in a relationship with another woman) moments, but I am going to try to cut those up with the bubbly repartee of Claudia and some others.

As always, questions are welcomed.

Now on with the story…

* * *

No one, if anyone else had been standing near the _Welcome to Port Charles, New York _sign at that time of night, would have mistaken the two women for best friends, let alone cousins. Claudia Zacharra looked like femme fetal personified with her tight black dress, black leather jacket, and stilettos with a heel like a knife. Alyssa Mitchell-Zacharra was neither ugly, nor boring looking, but standing next to her dressed to the nines cousin while she wore only jeans, a black t-shirt, and tennis shoes, was not going to win her any beauty pageants. Not that she cared.

"This had better be good," Alyssa said as she leaned back against the black car and ran her hands through her hair, which, annoyingly enough, her cousin had yet to comment on. In a moment of pure impulsiveness the week before she had walked into a beauty salon and told the hair stylist that she wanted her long brown locks chopped off and turned into a bob that fell just below her ears.

"Would I have called you if it wasn't?"

"Hmm. Let me think. Yes!"

Claudia rolled her eyes and fidgeted with the bottom of her jacket. "It is. I swear."

"Well spill it already. It's cold out here. I don't know why we had to meet on the edge of this god forsaken town anyway. Don't they have like hotels, restaurants, apartments, something with you know doors and ceilings, around here?" Alyssa complained. She'd been driven from a small airport in a town she'd never heard of to the _Welcome _sign in that same town, all without having any clue of what was going on. And all of that was topped off with her finding her cousin standing on the side of the road with no guards. After she'd gotten out of the car she'd been driven in Claudia had instructed the driver to take the car to the Zacharra compound, which Alyssa had never heard of, in Port Charles and drop her stuff off there. So here she was, on the side of the road, with no guards and only her cousin and her cousin's car to protect her from sharp shooters, hit men, and _things_ that might come out of the woods.

"It's not that far away from the city." Claudia glossed over the fact that she didn't want to meet in town because she was afraid that one of the residents of Port Charles would freak and spill the beans before she had a chance to explain to her cousin exactly what was going on.

Alyssa groaned and kicked the ground in front of her before shouting, "Claudia. Seriously, it's fucking cold out here. What do you want? Need help hiding a dead body or something?"

"No, and you wouldn't help me if I did."

"You're right. What's up?"

"I found her."

"Found who?"

Claudia stared pointedly at her cousin and took a step towards her. "Her. Alyssa. Your sister."

"You…she…"

"She's dead."

"I'm sorry, say that again." Alyssa shook her head, sure that she'd heard wrong. She couldn't possibly be hearing that she'd finally found her long-lost sister only to discover out that she was dead.

"I…God…I am so sorry. She's dead Ally."

"I don't…I don't understand." She turned around and pressed her suddenly very warm face against the cool window of the car door. "Explain this to me like I'm an idiot Claudia. What's happening here?"

"Okay," Claudia Zacharra stepped forward and wrapped her arms around her cousin's waist. She hadn't expected it to be this hard, but she need to do this…had too. Her brother's life depended on it. She steeled herself against her best friend's pain and said, "She was killed before I came to town. I wouldn't even have known it was her if they guy who did it hadn't been caught a few days ago. They showed her picture on the news and, God Ally, I felt like my heart was in my stomach, I had to watch three different stations to convince myself that it wasn't you. She was adopted by the Quartermaine family here in Port Charles. She looks—looked so much like you. Gorgeous brown eyes and silky brown hair, though hers was as long as yours used to be."

"I thought maybe you hadn't noticed," Alyssa smiled self-consciously as she leaned her head back against her cousin's shoulder. "I was a little pissed."

"Nah, I noticed," Claudia pulled her right hand from around her cousin's waist and mussed up that back of the other woman's hair. "It's cute. Edgy. Like you."

"Yeah," Alyssa nodded and braced herself against the pain, anger, and disbelief radiating through her body. "What else do you know?"

"No much. She was killed by Diego Alcazar the night of her engagement party. She was a doctor. Ummm, I guess the kid had killed a few other people, a girl named Georgie and Sonny Corinthos'…"

"Sonny Corinthos. The guy you slept with?" Alyssa pulled away from her cousin and paced toward the front of the car. "What does he have to do with this?"

"I…"

"Why did you call me here Claudia?"

"To tell you about…"

"Fuck you." Alyssa spat the words out and turned to stare at her cousin. "Just fucking say it. God, how could I have forgotten? You don't do anything without calculating how it will benefit you, but if you screw with me right now I swear to God I will never speak to you again."

"She was Jason Morgan's adopted sister."

"Dammit," Alyssa kicked the tires on the car and the ground her teeth against the pain, "I cannot believe…I know you, I know you will do whatever you have to do to get what you want, but I swear Claudia I never thought, ever, that you would pull this shit on me. Ever. Is this even for real? Do you even know if this girl was my sister or did you see a resemblance and just decide to milk it for all it was worth?"

"Is that really what you think about me? Is it?"

"No…I don't know," she shook her head and shoved her hands through her hair. "I'm sorry. I can't get my bearings here."

"They have Johnny…" Claudia trailed off and stared down the road and off into the distance.

"Who has Johnny?"

"Jason Morgan and Sonny Corinthos."

Alyssa nodded as she began putting the pieces of the puzzle together, "And you think since I look so much like my sister, like Jason Morgan's sister, I could help with that? God, Claudia. Really?"

"Emily Quartermaine was your sister," Claudia reached inside her pocket and pulled out a picture of Emily from the Port Charles Harold. "I also have a file…her mother, before she was adopted, was Paige Bowen. It's her, I'm sure of it. I wouldn't have called you otherwise."

"How'd you find this so quickly, I haven't been able to find anything for years."

"It's easier doing it backwards," Claudia grinned a little. "There was nothing online. I had to trek down to the Port Charles courthouse and search through a bunch of boxes for her damn adoption records. I got dusty Ally, dusty. If that's not love I don't know what is."

"Yeah," Alyssa laughed, her brown eyes shining with laughter and tears as she stared into her cousins eyes, trying to see if there was some lie she could find hiding behind them. She couldn't. "Okay, break this all down for me. Make me understand what's happened."

"Okay," Claudia straightened, all business now. "Apparently Diego Alcazar killed Emily Quartermaine as revenge for Jason Morgan killing his father and I thought since you're here and you look so much like her that maybe you could, I don't know, convince them to let Johnny go."

"Why do they have Johnny?"

"Because they think I took Sonny Corinthos' son and shot his boring, naïve girlfriend Kate Howard."

Alyssa raised her eyebrows, "Did you?"

"No," Claudia noticed the look her cousin was giving her and rolled her eyes. "I swear I didn't kidnap his spawn or shoot his precious Kate Howard. Geez."

"So who did? Trevor?"

"Are you kidding me? That man is too busy trying to steal my brother's business to worry about children and bitchy wannabe fashionistas."

Alyssa laughed to herself and said, "So you want me to, what, pretend to be my own dead sister to get them to give you back your brother?"

"Exactly."

Alyssa scrubbed her hands down her face. "I don't think I can do that Claude. I just…we don't even know anything about her anyway."

"Just go with me to see them then. Please."

"Fine," Alyssa wrenched to door to the car open and started to get into the driver seat. "But that's it."

Claudia reached out to grab her cousin's arm before she could sit down, "Thank you. Really, I know how hard this has to be for you and after we get Johnny back I'll do whatever I have to do to help you find out about your sister. I swear it."

"I know. Get your ass in the car."

* * *

"Wait, wait, wait, you can't…"

Sonny and Jason heard Max's warning cut off as Claudia Zacharra came walking into Sonny's office like she not only owned that building, but also all of Port Charles and the rest of the world. Neither Sonny nor Jason noticed the woman standing behind Max until she moved around him and stood next to her cousin.

"Em…" Sonny's voice trailed off and his breath caught in his throat. The last time he had seen the woman standing before his she was lying peacefully on a bench, dead, though he could have sworn she was only sleeping. He remembered in that moment, and this one, that he'd left her, walked out of her life to keep her safe and she'd ended up dead anyway and still it was his fault.

Her hair was shorter, that was the first thing that came into Jason Morgan's mind. Her hair was shorter and cut so that it framed her face. The bone structure of her face was a little sharper than his sisters and there were more angles in her cheeks, though they were enhanced by what he assumed was the nearly twenty pounds of weight that his sister did not have. She had a scar above her deep brown eyes that slashed through her right eyebrow.

She didn't necessarily have Emily Quartermaine's graceful stance, but she took up just as much space in the room as his sister had.

"No." That was all Jason said. One simple word. _No._ Alyssa wasn't sure if it had been directed at her for being there or at his boss for confusing her with his little sister. Either way it was final.

Sonny shook his head and looked up at both women, "What…"

"This is my little cousin," Claudia interrupted, wrapping her arm around the other woman's shoulder. "She's Emily Quartermaine's twin sister and I just thought I would come by here and let you all know that if you don't let my brother free then I will introduce her to everyone in this town that her sister and yours," she inclined her head to Jason, "cared about."

"Where is my son?"

Jason shot Sonny a look and shook his head. Of course that would be the first question he asked. Not where did this woman come from. Not what proof did they have that she was Emily's sister, but where was Michael. Never mind that he was almost sure neither woman had the answer to the question.

"I don't know!"

Jason turned and stared at the woman who looked exactly like his sister, his blue eyes were shinning with what some may have mistaken for unshed tears, but what anyone who knew him would have realized was a dangerous mixture of anger and confusion.

"Claudia," Alyssa shrugged her cousins arm off her shoulder and stepped forward. She tried not to look at the man she knew to be Jason Morgan, Emily Quartermaine's brother. "I believe her, she doesn't have your son and she didn't shoot Kate Howard and if Trevor did then there is nothing she can do to help you, but if you keep my cousin locked up then she is right, I will to my best to cause as much damage to the people in this town as possible until my cousin is returned. I'm sorry."

Before Sonny could speak Jason nodded his head, walked to the desk, picked up the phone and called Milo. "Let Johnny Zacharra go."

"What are you…?"

"Thank you," Alyssa interrupted and stared into Jason's bright blue eyes. She was shocked at how much emotion she felt pulsing out at her, from her cousins description she expected Jason Morgan to be stone cold with no emotional affect at all, what she was seeing was the exact opposite. She could see the fear, anger, sadness, and interest all shining out at her.

"Leave." Jason looked into her deep brown eyes and had to physically hold himself back from stepping forward and grabbing her beautiful face in his hands. "Just leave and don't come back."

"You know I can't do that. I really will try not to hurt anyone and I'll give you a few days to warn the people you need to but she was my sister too and there are things I need…I have to know."

"Then ask me." To her ears it almost sounded as if he was begging, but for what? For her to leave? For her not to hurt anyone? For her to not be there at all? What did he want from her?

"You won't be able to answer all my questions. Aren't there things you want to know…don't you have any questions for me?"

Sonny and Claudia both stood back and watched the verbal tennis match that was going on in front of them. Sonny hadn't expected to have Johnny Zacharra freed despite his wishes and Claudia hadn't expected her cousin to be so honest with Jason Morgan, but apparently neither of them were really going to get their way.

"No. You can't tell me anything about her I don't already know." Jason took a physical step back to keep himself from stepping forward and forward and right up to her. He need to examine her, needed to be sure that his eyes weren't fooling him. He could see the differences clear as day, but what did that mean? Who was he looking at?

"I guess not," Alyssa shook her head and turned to leave, before she got out the door she turned back and said one last time, "Really. Thank you. I'll try my best to be kind to the people she loved." With that she was gone.

Claudia, for the first time either Jason or Sonny had seen, was speechless and she quietly followed her cousin out the door without saying another word.

"What the hell was that?"

"She doesn't know where Michael is," Jason scrubbed his hands down his face and refused to look at Sonny, if he did he'd see all the times he'd yelled at Emily for being with him, all the moments he'd missed being angry at her for simply loving someone he didn't want her to. Worst of all though, he'd see the reason for her death. As much as he hated to say it, and wouldn't admit it, he knew that the reason his sister was dead was because she had loved him and trusted him no matter what and now here he was faced with her twin and it took every inch of his self-control not to follow behind her, making sure that he didn't make the same mistake twice. That he didn't have to see that face, that beautiful face, frozen in death.

"You don't know that. You let your emotional response to that girl get in the way of business and my son's safety."

"That girl looks exactly like my sister who is dead because I work for you. Don't tell me about my emotions getting in the way of business. She was telling the truth, they don't know where Michael is and keeping Johnny Zacharra would only cause more problems. I'll find Michael."

Sonny shook his head and stared down at the desk, he wasn't sure when it started happening but more and more he noticed Jason pulling away from him and he wasn't sure if he could really blame him. He knew what Jason saw when he looked at him, knew because it was the same thing he saw when he looked at Jason—the blood of those they loved covering each other's soiled hands.

"Alright. What do you want to do about this?"

Jason turned to stare at his boss and shook his head, "I don't know."

* * *

"What the hell was that?"

"He let Johnny go didn't he?"

"Maybe, maybe not. He hasn't called yet."

"Jesus Claudia, give it a little time."

"Fine," Claudia stepped in front of her cousin before she could open the driver seat door. "What about that other stuff?"

"What other stuff?"

Claudia rolled her eyes, "Come on. Staring into his baby blues, being all nice and sweet, what was that shit?"

"The truth?" Claudia nodded in response. "I don't want to hurt her friends or her family. That's not the reason I wanted to find her."

"But come on, we could really use this. I mean…"

"No," Alyssa interrupted and grabbed her cousin's shoulders. "Promise me Claudia. Promise me you won't take my relationship, or lack thereof, with my sister and turn it into something bad or wrong. Please. I couldn't stand it if you did."

Claudia leaned her forehead against her cousins and then kissed her on the tip of her nose. "Okay. Promise. But if they come after me or Johnny again, all bets are off. I won't let them hurt him."

"Of course you won't. Your right, if we have to we get dirty we will, but only if we have to. Now let's go home, I wanna see our boy."

Both women laughed and pulled apart. Alyssa opened the car door and slid in while Claudia walked around the back to get into the passenger's seat. As she crossed the back of the car she noticed a glare out of her right eye and turned around just as her cousin turned the key in the ignition. She heard the vehicle almost turn over three times before she realized what was happening. She whipped around and started back towards the driver's seat, but before she could get the words out of her mouth she felt a flash of heat touch her face and she was thrown back against the window of the coffee house with more force than she could have imagined.

Alyssa saw the shocked look on her cousin's face, in the rear view mirror, just in time to realize that something was terribly wrong. She immediately yanked the keys out of the ignition and shoved the car door open just as she was pushed outward by the force of the blast. She felt her stomach slam into the door and her body yank back, but then her head hit the ground behind her as she fell backward and the last thing she saw was the flames shoot out over her head.

Sonny, Jason, and Max heard the explosion and ran out of the coffee house. The first sight that met their eyes was Claudia carefully coming to her feat and wiping the blood off her forehead and Alyssa knocked out on the ground behind the back driver-side tire. Sonny moved to help Claudia stand, or lean really, against the cracked window behind her while Max dialed nine-one-one and Jason pulled the woman who looked like Emily, his Emily, away from the flames of the car.

He brushed his fingers over her face in feather-light touches and checked her body for any deep cuts or bruises that could be a problem. He lifted her head lightly and checked the palm of his hand to make sure there was no blood. From what he could see she was pretty lucky, there were no obvious wounds other than many cuts and bruises, but he wasn't sure how hard she'd hit her head or if there was any internal bleeding. He lightly lifted her eyelids and said, "Come on sweetheart, you need to wake up for me. Just look up at me."

He could hear Claudia yelling behind him, but he figured since she hadn't shoved him out of the way or tried to kick the crap out of him that Sonny had a good hold on her and was keeping her back. He watched Alyssa's eyelids quickly flutter, but the woman still didn't open her eyes. The next thing he knew the paramedics were struggling to lift her out of his arms and onto a stretcher and Claudia was being loaded into a second ambulance yelling and screaming about wanting to see her cousin.

"Sir, sir," the paramedic tried to get his attention. "We need to get her to the hospital right now. Can you call the family?"

"No…I don't," he looked up shocked. "Where are you taking her?"

"General Hospital is closest."

_Monica. Liz. Robin. Any number of Emily's friends or family could be there. _"I'm going…"

"We can't really allow you to…"

"I'm going." Jason stepped up into the ambulance and affectively ended the conversation. He reached out and grabbed Alyssa Zacharra's hand as the ambulance pulled away from the site of the bombing and started on its way to General Hospital. He wanted to be worried about what would happen if someone who knew Emily saw this woman, but mostly all he could think was that he might have to watch this woman who looked exactly like his sister, this woman who had just walked into his life, die. Again.


	2. Port Charles meet Alyssa

**Title:** Identity

**Author:** Girlfearless AKA Christy

Don't own it, never will, don't even really wish I did right now.

* * *

By the time they were wheeling Alyssa's gurney in General Hospital both Jason and Claudia were on separate sides of Alyssa, staring holes into each other. Claudia had refused medical treatment and told the paramedics on the way over that if they didn't have the paperwork ready when they got to the hospital so that she could go with her cousin right away then she would make all of their lives a living hell, they had no trouble believing the woman who, even with a torn dress and abrasions all over her, still looked dangerous.

"Why are you still here anyway?" Claudia glared at Jason who stood across from her, next to the gurney.

"People here will recognize her."

"Good, great, you stand guard at the door like a good little dog and protect everyone and I'll stay with my cousin."

Jason ignored her as they walked into an examining room and Patrick Drake walked in behind them, "What do we…Is that Emily?"

"No," Jason looked over at him. "She's her twin."

"I didn't know…"

"Excuse me, yeah. Hi. I'm Claudia Zacharra and this is my cousin you two are talking over while she slowly slips into a coma. So could we maybe, I don't know, focus on the patient here?"

"Of course," Patrick stepped over the bed that Alyssa had been transferred into and quickly checked her vitals while asking Claudia and Jason questions. "What happened?"

"Car bomb," Jason answered bluntly as he stared at Alyssa on the bed.

"Has she woken up at all since the accident?"

"No."

"Does she have any allergies to any medications that you know of?"

"Uh, I don't think so," Claudia answered as she stared down at her cousins scratched and bruised face.

"Pain medications used to give Emily nightmares, I don't know…" Jason trailed off as Claudia snapped her head up to look at him.

"It might be the same for…" Patrick trailed off and looked to Jason for a name.

"Alyssa," Claudia provided.

"Alyssa," Patrick nodded. "We'll see, but that's not gonna be our main concern right now."

"What is," Jason asked.

"The fact that she isn't awake. She's got some bruising and a few scrapes, but I can't see any trauma that should really be keeping her under. We're going to need to run a few tests and see what we're dealing with. It could be there is internal damage that I can't appreciate right now or it could just be that her brain is telling her body it needs to rest and this bombing just gave it the perfect opportunity to do so."

"So what you're saying is that either something is wrong or it isn't…" Claudia trailed off as she looked out the door and noticed a small crowd starting to gather.

"What I'm saying is we don't know for sure right now," Patrick looked towards the door and turned back to Jason and Claudia and said, "I'm gonna put in the order for some of these test, call the lab and let them know we'll need a MRI, and while I'm at it I'll take care of the crowd that's congregating. Jason you may want to call a few people before they hear about this from someone else. I'll tell Robin."

Jason nodded as Patrick walked out the door and turned his head to Claudia as she flipped open the cell phone she'd been gripping for dear life, "Who are you calling?"

"A doctor I know in New York, I want to see if I can get my cousin transferred out…"

"She wanted to stay in town," Jason interrupted unsure of why he was fighting for this women, who he knew was going to bring trouble into his life, to stay in town.

"Yeah, well that was before my car was blown up with her in it and half the doctors in the hospital she's at were old friends of her dead sister. I'm not trusting her health to a bunch of people who look at her and see someone else."

"Leave her here," Jason reached out and lightly touched Alyssa's hand before Claudia yanked his arm back. "Patrick Drake is the best and you'll want that for her. The doctors here are professional, they'll be shocked at first, but they'll come around. You don't even know if you should be moving her."

"Why are you so dead set on her staying here?"

"I don't know," Jason answered honestly as he looked out the small window in the door and saw Liz staring in her eyes shining with unshed tears and a look of shock on her face. "I'll be back."

He carefully stepped out the door and lightly touched her elbow to move her away from the emergency room door and into the hallway, "Are you okay?"

"Is that...Is Emily alive?"

"No."

"I don't…Who is that?"

"I think," he scrubbed his hands down his face and looked back down the hallway, worry etched on his face. "Her twin sister."

"Emily doesn't have twin Jason, if she did we'd know. She would have told us something like that."

"She didn't know. I haven't…I need Spinelli to check some of this out."

"So she could be Emily?"

Jason shook his head, "No."

"How do you know, they could have…"

"It's not her. They aren't identical and…it's just not her."

"Okay," Liz nodded, still unsure, and reached out to touch his arm. "How do we know that the Zacharra's aren't trying to distract you?"

"We…I don't. I just don't think they are. She seemed…I don't think she's lying."

"Maybe…maybe you…never mind."

"What?" He asked, more than willing to have her tell him that he was losing his mind.

"Maybe you don't want to think she's lying," she broached the subject carefully as she reached out and took his hands in hers. "Maybe you need to believe that a part of Emily is still here with us. I understand, believe me I understand, but if this girl isn't Emily's sister then allowing her to act like she is, is just as bad as Nikolas not getting help for his tumor because he thinks he sees her."

Jason shook his head and stared down at their joined hands, "I'm not Nikolas. I'm not pretending this girl is some perfect version of Emily sent here just for me to obsess over. I know she's not Emily, she's nothing like her. If they were trying to mess with me then she would be more like Emily was…she's not."

"Okay, but if she isn't Emily and the Zacharra's aren't trying to cause trouble…what is she doing here?"

"Claudia brought her here so that we would let her brother go," Jason answered abruptly. He hadn't planned on telling her about Johnny Zacharra, but he knew there was no way she would understand if he didn't tell her the whole truth.

"You…"

"Let me go! Let me go! I have to see her! You have to let me see her!"

Liz and Jason both started walking back towards Alyssa's room as they realized who the yelling voice belonged to, they got to the door of the room just in time to see Claudia walk out of it and over to Nikolas and Nadine, who was trying to pull him back.

"Get the hell away from my cousin's room you psycho."

"He doesn't realize what he's doing," Nadine said as she tried to hold Nikolas behind her.

"I don't care if he's having visions of fucking sugarplums dancing in his head, you need to keep him the hell away from my cousin or else I'm gonna do it for you!"

"I have to see her…"

"Nikolas," Liz walked over to her friend and lightly touched his shoulder. "You need to calm down. That woman isn't Emily."

"How they hell did he find out she was here anyway," Claudia asked looking over the faces of Jason, Liz, Nadine, and Nikolas.

"It's my fault," Nadine looked down at the ground in front of her. "I told him. I thought…I'm sorry."

"You should be you little idiot…"

"Hey," Liz interrupted and stepped in front of Nadine. "If you are going to talk to our employees like that then you can leave."

"Maybe this hospital's employees need to learn not to give out patient information."

"She was trying to help him."

"Oh well, that's great. As long as your little friend gets help, who cares that he's screaming outside of my cousin's room?" Claudia shook her head and pointed between Liz and Nadine. "Did you two dinks drink the same idiot juice this morning?"

"Hey," Patrick walked up behind Liz, Nadine, and Nikolas and then walked around to stand next to Claudia. "What's going on here?"

"Dumb and dumber here thought it would be a good idea to let Emily Quartermaines' ex-whatever stand outside my cousin's room screaming about how he needs to see her. I disagreed."

"Okay," Patrick shook his head. "You three need to leave this area right now. Liz you are supposed to be up on four, Nadine take Nikolas back to his room, and tell Epiphany that I need her to put a nurse on this room, one that did not have personal relationship with Emily Quartermaine."

Nadine dragged Nikolas away and he finally stopped struggling against her as they stepped into the elevator, Patrick figured she had somehow convinced him that he could see Alyssa Zacharra later and he knew he would have to figure out a way to either stop that from happening or at the very least stop it from being the problem it had become this time.

Liz walked over to Jason and started to take his arm to draw him away, but Claudia smirked at her and said, "The doctor didn't say he had to leave and if he wants to stay I'm sure my cousin wouldn't have a problem with it." She gave Jason a winning smile and walked back into Alyssa's hospital room.

"Actually," Patrick looked over at Jason, "it might be a good idea if you stick around. I don't know how long it will take for Monica Quartermaine to find out this girl looks like Emily and for that matter I don't know who else will show up. We may need you."

Jason shook his head and pulled Liz around the corner as Patrick walked into Alyssa's room, "I think he's right about Monica, or anyone else, showing up."

Liz nodded her head and looked around before asking, "Should I call someone or something?"

"No. I called Spinelli and left him a message and if I have to I'll stop by the Quartermaine's tonight."

She bit her lip and looked up at him, "What about Lucky? He might hear something about this at work."

Jason scrubbed his hand down his face and nodded his head, "Yeah, yeah, maybe you should call him."

"I just think…"

"I know, you're right. Just…just be careful," he leaned down and kissed her on the forehead and then lightly kissed her on the lips.

"You too," Liz smiled and held on to his hand as long as she could before walking away.

"Are all of you sister's friends annoying and dumb," Claudia asked as Jason came back into the room. Patrick and Jason both shot each other half annoyed, half amused looks as Claudia continued to rant. "I mean really, how dumb do you have to be to bring a psycho ex to the room of a woman who looks just like his dead fiancé, and what the hell was with him yelling about her being alive? Is he losing it? How long has she been dead…"

"Don't," Jason interrupted her tirade and her head shot up as she stared at him. "Don't talk about my sister. Just. Don't."

Claudia put both of her palms up and shook her hands; her voice was filled with sarcasm as she said, "Fine. Whatever," but Patrick could tell from the look on her face that Jason's comment had hit home and she would not be talking about Emily's death again.

"We're going to need to move her upstairs," Patrick said as the new nurse walked into the room. "I want her prepped for an MRI and my order to keep as many doctors and nurses that were friends of Emily Quartermaine as possible away from her is a standing one."

"Can I go up with her," Claudia asked as they started to prepare Alyssa for the move.

"Not quite yet," Patrick unhooked a machine and wrote down a few notes that Claudia didn't understand. "Right now she's going straight for the MRI, I'll come back in a few minutes—or I'll send someone back—to take you to her room. Okay?"

Claudia nodded and reached out to take her cousins hand in her own once more before she left. She kissed each of her knuckles and then stepped back as they wheeled the gurney out of the room.

* * *

"How long is this supposed to take," Claudia paced in front of the waiting chairs on the fifth floor of General Hospital. She'd asked to be allowed to stand outside of the room while the performed the MRI on her cousin, but Patrick Drake, who she was beginning to mildly trust with Alyssa's life, had told her to just wait in the chairs.

"A while."

"How long is a while," she asked, turning around to face Jason who sat quietly in the largest chair that was cattycorner from the couch she had vacated three or four times since the nurse had left them on that floor.

"More than ten minutes."

"It's been longer than…" Claudia trailed off as she looked down at her watch. She was wrong. It had actually only been about seven minutes since they'd been seated and told to wait for Alyssa's room number. "Fine. Where the hell is my brother? He should have called by now."

Jason looked up at her and shook his head, the only person he'd met that was less patient was Carly and at least he was generally able to calm her down. Claudia Zacharra didn't look like she'd been calm for about ten years. "I don't know."

"That's all you have to say? You don't know?"

"Yes."

"Anyone ever tell you that you're a really talkative guy."

Jason just shot her a look and leaned back in the chair covering his forehead with his arms and closing his eyes.

"Right," Claudia rolled her eyes and once again took a seat on the couch. She pulled the frayed hem of her dress and regretted, until she noticed one of the nurses in ugly peach scrubs, turning down the offer of clean clothes she'd gotten. Sighing with relief she leaned back into the couch and crossed her left leg over her right one, maybe she was sitting around a hospital in a torn up dress and leather coat with ridiculously painful heels, but it was better than wearing some dead person clothes or scrubs that didn't look good on anyone.

Jason ignored what he assumed was a groan from the woman next to him and tried to concentrate on something he had a little control over. For days he'd unsure about the Zacharra's role in Michael's disappearance and now that he finally had Sonny on his side and what he believed was the proof he needed that they hadn't had a role in either the kidnapping or Kate Howard's shooting a nauseating thought had planted itself in his head. He hadn't believed for one second that the two weren't connected, but he was willing to step outside the box and examine the fact that if it wasn't mob related then it was possible that the culprit was closer than any of them wanted to admit. The one thought that kept echoing in his head was: _Why did he do it?_

Before he really had a chance to examine what may or may not have been Michael's motives for shooting Kate he heard his name, or what he'd come to think of as a name, called from the direction of the elevators.

"Stone Cold," Damian Spinelli came around the corner, laptop in his arms and Maxie Jones walking quickly behind him.

"What is she doing here," both men asked the question simultaneously while Maxie and Claudia just sized each other up in about the same way prized boxers sized up their competition.

Jason looked at Claudia and then back at Spinelli before scrubbing his hands down his face. "She's…her cousin was hurt. C'mere," he pulled Spinelli away from both women and into the hallway across from the nurse's station.

"You're being kind to the most evil seductress?"

"No. Her cousin's name is Alyssa Mitchell-Zacharra and I need you to find any information you can on her."

"Oh. I see you're looking for information to use against her in our time of need."

"No, I'm not. I need you to find out about Alyssa's parents and her family. I need you to tell me if she has—had a twin sister."

"Uh," Spinelli rubbed his fingers over his temple and nodded, "Okay, but I fail to see how this information could be helpful in the search of young Michael."

"It isn't," Jason answered and shoved down the pang of guilt the rose up in his chest. "It's about Emily."

"Em…oh," Spinelli immediately sobered. "Is there something else about Diego and…"

"Alyssa Zacharra is Emily's twin sister." Jason noticed the bit of pain wash over Spinelli's face and cursed himself. He knew that the younger man automatically related Emily's death with the death of Georgie Jones, he should have been clearer.

"Oh, I understand…" Spinelli started to walk away and then turned back to Jason and said, "No, I don't."

"I'll explain later, I just need you to find me everything you can."

"And the search for Michael?"

"That…that comes first, just do what you can."

Spinelli nodded, again started to walk away and again turned around. "Are you okay?"

"Spinelli…"

"I have…I've used my somewhat flawed deductive reasoning and have come to the conclusion that this woman, Alyssa Zacharra, was somehow hurt tonight and if anyone knows the pain that…well, the pain you have suffered since that fateful night of the ball, it's me. I just…I've seen you looking at her picture sometimes."

"Yeah."

"I just wanted to let you know that if you ever want to talk I am here. Losing noble Emily was very hard on you, still is, and I think…I hope…that she would want someone to tell you that you aren't alone. I mean if…if you want…"

"I know Spinelli."

"Good," Spinelli shook his shoulders and started to walk towards Jason arms open, but half way there noticed the look of discomfort on the other man's face and opted instead to stick out his right hand to be shaken.

Jason reached out, gripped Spinelli's hand, gave it a light tug and then walked past him and back towards the lounge seats.

Spinelli followed behind, a smile quirked on his young face, and motioned for Maxie to come with him as he walked past the lounge area and toward the elevators.

"Well, bye," Maxie smiled as she turned and left, running to catch up with Spinelli, "So what was that all…"

Claudia and Jason heard the young woman's voice trail off as elevator doors closed.

"Gonna have your errand boy check out my cousin?"

"Did you expect me not to?"

"Nope," Claudia grinned, picked at her fingernails and said, under her breath, "Guess now you won't be the only one checking her out."

"What?"

Her response was interrupted by Patrick walking over, "You can go back and see your cousin now. She still isn't awake, but her vitals are stable and as soon as I have the results of her tests back I'll talk to you about them. She's in five-eighteen and Stacey will take you there," he said and motioned to the nurse behind him.

They walked to the hospital room in silence and just before they reached to door, Jason reached out, took Claudia's hand and asked, "What did you mean back there?"

"Back where," she asked and yanked her arm away.

"When you said Spinelli won't be the only one checking her out…What did you mean?"

She shook her head and smiled, "Nothing."

"Claudia…"

Both of them heard the voice from down the hall and they turned at the same time, nearly ramming into each, in the direction it was coming from. Johnny Zacharra half walked, half ran down the hallway to catch up with his sister while Patrick Drake, who had told him where she was, turned and walked away from the group. If there was going to be violence then he and his precious hands were not getting in the middle of it.

"John," Claudia laughed and threw her arms around her brother's neck. She squeezed him and buried her face in his hair as he toyed with the ends of hers behind her back. They hung on for dear life, ignoring Jason's presences until Johnny stepped back and said, "What is he doing here?"

"He's the one who let you go and…"

"And probably the one who put the bomb in your car," Johnny finished and noticed the shocked look on her face. "It was on the news. I came straight here as soon as I heard it. Who was unidentified woman in the car with you?"

Claudia shot Jason a look and then took Johnny's arm and pulled him around the corner with her. While she wasn't exactly eager to leave Jason alone with her cousin, she also didn't want him to hear what she had to say to her little brother.

"It was Alyssa."

"Alyssa?" Johnny started to walk back towards the hospital room, but Claudia pulled him back again, "What is she doing here?"

"Better question," Claudia stared into his eyes, searching for any sign of a betrayal that she knew she wouldn't be able to stand. "Why didn't you tell me about her?"

"About her," Johnny shook his head. "I didn't know she was in town."

"No. Why didn't you tell me about her and Emily Quartermaine?"

"What about them?"

"They're twins Johnny! They freaking look exactly alike! I know you saw her the night she was killed, Dad was going crazy in her finance's house, so why didn't you say anything?"

"I didn't know."

"Johnny," she gave him an incredulous look. "Twins."

"Claudia," he scrubbed his hands down his face and then shook his head. "The last time I saw Alyssa in person I was twelve-years-old. After that it was just letters and phone calls and emails; you sent me a few pictures of the two of you, but dad always eventually found them and tore them up. You know he was more upset with her, and the idea of her, than he was with you. Hell, aunt Gabriella was the reason he stopped trusting women in the first place."

"I didn't…I guess I never thought about it or realized it. I just…I'm sorry." Once again she pulled him close and held him tightly in her arms.

Johnny let her hold him for a second before, once again, pulling away and saying, "Wait. Is she okay? How badly was she hurt in the bombing?"

"We aren't sure. The doctor said that he couldn't see any reason she wasn't awake yet so he ran some test, but it might just be that her body or her mind or whatever needs the rest."

"Corinthos is going to pay for this."

"I don't think it was him…"

"Why not?"

"They didn't really have time, first, and second, I don't think that Morgan would have risked Alyssa's life."

Johnny raised his eyebrows at his sister, "You don't think he would have risked Alyssa's life?"

"No. Remember, she looks exactly like his dead sister. And even if Alyssa didn't look like the girl, she's related to her. Morgan may be all about the bottom line, and he may be better at keeping his emotions in check than Corinthos is, but no way would he taint 'little sisters' memory by killing someone who is related to her."

"So who would?"

"My money is on Trevor and I'm also betting that he knew exactly who was in the driver's seat when he gave the order. Think about it: whoever did this would have had to have placed the bomb before we showed up at Corinthos'. There just wasn't time to do it while we were there. So Trevor plants a 'just in case' bomb, finds out Alyssa and I are talking to Morgan and Corinthos and decides to phone the order for our deaths in when we come back out."

"Alright," Johnny nodded. "Why?"

"That's what I want to know and while we're at it, we're having the cars checked from now on. Something like this is not happening again."

Jason stood in the doorway of Alyssa Zacharra's room and stared at the woman lying in the bed. Before he could stop it, the memory rushed into his head and he was staring at his little sister, pale and scared lying on a hospital bed looking up at him with questions shinning in her eyes…

"_Just tell me what you need," he said as he stared into Emily's eyes._

"_I need to figure out...how to die. That's what's happening even though no one will come out and say it and I don't know…I don't know how to make it okay for them. They're all so terrified and I have no idea how to help them."_

_He took a deep breath and tried to keep his voice from breaking, "Do you, do you really think this is it?"_

"_Yes."_

"_Okay. Then the time that you have left is a gift."_

_She stared up at him, pain shining in her eyes as she took a deep breath, "A gift."_

_He nodded, still trying to keep the lump in his throat from making itself known. If she was strong enough to ask the question, then he had to be strong enough to answer it for her, "Yeah you just, you just have to use that time to say whatever you need to give the people you love a part of yourself to keep with them."_

"_A part of myself?"_

_He lightly brushed her forehead, "Yeah, just a part of yourself."_

"_I'm so scared, I'm so scared Jason."_

"_I know. I know you are," he reached out and rubbed her forehead and never told her that he was scared too. Scared that without her he really would be the soulless monster some thought he was. Scared that without her there would be no one to worry if he was spending too much time in his penthouse or with Carly and Sonny. Scared that if she died a part of him would be forever gone. _

Instead of taking a step back from the door of Alyssa's hospital room to escape the memory of his sister asking him how to die, Jason took a step forward, and then another and another. The closer he got to her bedside, the more he realized that the woman he was looking at was not his sister. She was a mirage; a trick of the mind, this woman belonged not to him, but rather to Claudia and Johnny Zacharra. She would never smile at him the way his sister had or beg him to make an appearance at some social event he wanted badly to avoid, she would never come over and cook him dinner when he was down to his last microwave pizza. No, that woman was gone.

But there was something. Something in the way her eyes shown out at him at the coffee house when she was explaining to him that she couldn't leave. There was love there and loyalty and guts, three things that his sister and this mirage had in common. Three of the qualities he loved most about the girl he knew. Maybe that was why he hadn't been able to get the vision of her laying on the ground, bleeding out of his head. She shared not only a face with his Emily, but also the qualities that made his little sister continue to love him even after every one of her instincts should have told her to walk away.

He reached out to touch her hand just as Patrick walked through the door, "Where is the family?"

"I don't know," Jason pulled his hand back and rested it on the edge of the bed.

"We're here," Claudia walked into the room, her hand wrapped around her brother's shoulder. "What can you tell us?"

"There's no internal damage, I didn't see any bruising on her brain or swelling, nothing that would be causing her unconsciousness."

"Okay," she drew out the word. "What does that mean?"

"It means that she won't need any surgery or anything else invasive so that's good. There's no reason she shouldn't wake up on her own after a few hours, a day tops."

"So she'll be fine?"

"She should be…"

"What aren't you telling us?" Johnny asked as he pulled away from his sister.

"Nothing," Patrick answered. "Since we don't know what's causing this I can't say for sure how long it will last, but from her blood tests and everything else it looks like she'll be fine. I just can't make any promises."

"You…"

"John," Claudia pulled her brother back against her. "Don't. He can't tell us she'll be fine and then have some freak accident happen. Okay. You stay here with her; I want to talk to Morgan and Dr. Drake outside. Okay?"

Johnny nodded his head and walked, warily, past Jason and to his cousin's bed. Claudia was right, she did look like Emily Quartermaine and now that he was standing next to her, both of their faces meshed in his mind, he couldn't figure out why he hadn't realized it before. Sure it had been years since he'd seen a picture of his cousin, but still, there had been years before, while his father pretended not to know who she was, when she and Claudia had been his best friends. He'd follow the two of them anywhere and everywhere during the summers he was allowed to spend with them and now it was like all those years, all that time, had been lost. But it hadn't, he reminded himself as he reached out and took her hand in his, there was still time.

"Is there a problem?"

"No," Claudia looked back at Patrick as she turned around after walked out of the hospital room. "No problem. You can go."

Patrick raised his eyebrows and turned to Jason, when the other man nodded he shrugged his shoulders and walked away.

"What do you want?"

"A truce," Claudia responded. "We both have our issues to deal with now so how about we just promise right here and right now not to try and kill each other, at least until we don't have people we love to worry about."

"I'll talk to Sonny."

"Good. Great." She started to walk away and then turned back and said, "Listen, uh, believe it or not I love my cousin and because I love my cousin I am protective of her so I just wanted to let you know that anyone who hurts her because she's Emily Quartermaine's twin is going to have to deal with me. You just might want to warn everyone about that little fact."

"You can't expect them just to accept it."

"I can. I do."

"Listen…"

"Claude," Johnny rushed out of the hospital room and grabbed his sisters arm. "She's up. She's awake."

Claudia took one step forward before she doubled over and held her stomach, groaning.

"Oh God," Johnny ran forward and touched his hand to his sisters stomach; he pulled back and noticed that there was blood on his fingers. "What's wrong? What happened?"

"I thought it was just a bruise," Claudia mumbled before falling to the ground, arms wrapped around her stomach.


	3. Headaches, Doctors, and Akwardness

**Title:** Identity

**Author:** Girlfearless AKA Christy

Don't own it, never will, don't even really wish I did right now.

**A/N: **Okay this chapter set a lot of the tone for where the story is going to go. I've had a lot of ideas in mind and, as I think I've mentioned, this story certainly isn't going to be as complicated or involved as The Road Less Traveled, but because I am weaving in into what's going on, on GH right now I want to make a few things clear. First, Claudia and Johnny's relationship is a little different than it was on the show, there has been some contact with them (and some with Alyssa) over the years and that will be obvious in how close the three are and some of the stories they share with each other, but I just wanted to make it clear that there has been a relationship, though strained, with the three of them over the years. Second, I am not sure what the hell Ian's motives were on GH, but I did want to incorporate him into this story so there will be a hint of an old relationship (that will be explained more later) between Ian and the Zacharra's, specifically Claudia. Third, I am sort of going to fall in line with TPTB on GH and say that Ric never really had a relationship Claudia or Alyssa; however, they did know about him and there were meetings when they were young, but that was before Alyssa was really grown up at all so there would be no real way of him knowing that Emily and Alyssa were related. As a matter of fact he doesn't even really remember her and the ONLY reason she remembers him is because he is Trevor's son and she's always been wary of Trevor. Okay, I think that's all for now, read on…

Oh, also, Robin is about four months along in this story and she and Patrick are living together and trying to work things out. I'm sick of TPTB taking forever to have them both just suck it up and be together. Okay, I think that's really all this time. Read on…

* * *

**Two days later after the car bombing... **

"Well aren't you two a pair," Johnny grinned at his sister and cousin as he walked into the family room and noticed Claudia leaning back on the couch and Alyssa slouched down in the big burgundy chair next to the fireplace. Both of them had glasses of ice water in their hands, Claudia rested hers on her bruised and bandaged abdomen and Alyssa rested hers on her forehead, and both of them looked like they hadn't slept in months.

"Mean," Alyssa groaned as she took the cool glass off of her head. She'd recovered nicely from her time in the hospital, but she'd also left the day before against medical advice, along with Claudia, and as her headache got worse and worse she was beginning to regret that decision.

"Yeah," he smiled and sat down next his sister with a loud plop, "but you love me anyway. I have good news, would you two beautiful ladies like to hear it?"

Neither woman said anything for a minute until Claudia finally grunted and pulled herself into an upright position, "What's the news?" She smiled as she asked, her brother hadn't been in the best of moods since she'd come to town, but Alyssa functioned as a nice buffer zone between them when they needed and she also reminded him what it was like when the three of them were together. More and more he was coming out of his shell of anger and letting the two of them into his life and his heart again.

"I knew you couldn't resist. Michael Corinthos called his mother yesterday and confessed to shooting Kate Howard, by accident. The boy is back at home and safe in mommy and daddies arms and the Corinthos organization owes us an apology. What form do you two think we should take it in?"

"Well," Claudia grinned and shot Alyssa a conniving look, "I think we should ask Jason Morgan and that beautiful body of his perform a nice little strip tease for us. What do you say Ally?"

"Bite me," her cousin groaned from the chair.

"My pleasure," Claudia laughed as she leaned over and closed her teeth lightly over her cousin's arm.

"Gross, freak! Johnny please control your sister."

"I don't think so," Johnny said as he looked between the two of them. It had been years since he'd seen his sister playful with anyone, of course it had been years since he'd seen her at all really, but even when she first stepped foot in Port Charles he could tell that she was the same old Claudia, never letting love in unless she wanted it there, which was rare. "I also don't think that's what we'll be asking for. How about the use of his shipping lanes and piers?"

"For what?"

Claudia turned to her brother and shook her head.

"For what," Alyssa repeated.

"Shipping," Claudia answered and sat completely up so that her back was straight up against the back of the couch.

"I got that. Shipping what Claudia?"

"Nothing."

"Johnny. Shipping what?"

"Uh," Johnny looked between the two women and scratched his chin. He had two choices, tell his cousin the truth so that he wouldn't have to listen to her nagging or lie so he wouldn't have to listen to his sister nagging. The definition of a rock and a hard place.

"Whatever needs to be shipped."

"Drugs," Alyssa pulled herself upright and moved the cover that was resting over her legs. "Are you planning on shipping drugs?"

"Ally…" Claudia said the nickname as a warning, but she knew she was about to be in for a fight.

"I can't believe this. You can't seriously be thinking about shipping drugs through this town, you can't be thinking about shipping drugs at all. First, it's wrong and yes, I know, mobsters aren't exactly the moral compass of the world, but come on. Second, it's too dangerous. Drugs are the first things that cops and Feds look for when trying to build a case against someone. You know it's the best way for them to win in the court of public opinion and you know it's the one of the very few things that jury's don't need or care for a lot of evidence to convict on. You can't seriously be thinking about taking this risk."

"We don't exactly have a choice…" Johnny let the explanation fall after he noticed two very angry women staring at him. "What?"

"Jesus Johnny," Claudia brushed her fingers through her hair and shook her head. "You know you can't tell everyone everything."

"She's family. She's Alyssa."

"Yeah," the other woman perked up. "I'm family, I'm Alyssa. What's happening?"

"You don't want to be involved in the business," Claudia reminded her cousin. "Never have."

"Except," Alyssa argued, "in very special and dangerous situations. This sounds like one of them."

"She has a point," Johnny spoke up from his corner of the couch. He also hadn't been completely convinced of his sisters plan to move drugs through the Corinthos territory until she told him why she was doing it and if their cousin had any idea, and she was always full of ideas, how to get them out of the deal he was up for hearing about it.

"Fine," Claudia groaned and shook her head. "It's Ian."

"Ian, Ian? Dr. Devlin, Ian? What does he have to do with it?"

"I wasn't thinking when Johnny was first kidnapped and I didn't know about your relationship with Emily Quartermaine so I called Ian and told him I might need his help handling Sonny Corinthos. He agreed and even though I never really used him he's threatening to tell Corinthos and Morgan that I was considering, well, something stupid to get Johnny back and…"

"What were you considering," Alyssa asked, wary of her cousins' vagueness.

"Listen I already got yelled at by Johnny yesterday when I told him; I don't need you getting bitchy with me too. Alright."

"What were you considering?"

"God," Claudia groaned. "Listen, the people in this town are pretty dumb and they talk about things out in the open. I heard that Elizabeth Webber's, the dinky brunette…"

"I know who you are talking about," Alyssa rolled her eyes. Elizabeth Webber had stared at her with suspicious eyes the day before as she was signing herself out of the hospital. Not that she could really blame the woman, it wasn't every day you ran into someone who looked like your dead best friend, but that coupled with Claudia's recounting of the story about Nikolas Cassadine yelling outside of her room did not endear Liz Webber to her in any way.

"Right. Anyway, her baby boy is Jason Morgan's son. Since I hadn't actually kidnapped Michael Corinthos, so I couldn't bargain with his freedom, I was considering taking the boy. Just considering," Claudia said defensively as her cousin shot her a disappointed look. "Well I didn't do it, but Ian knew I thought about it and that alone, I think, would push Morgan far enough over the edge to break the shaky truce we've got going here."

"Agreed," Alyssa said, choosing not to comment on the kidnapping plan. As much as it pissed her off, she knew how much Claudia loved Johnny and she knew that fighting over something that never actually happened wasn't going to get them anywhere. "So it's Ian's drugs you are considering moving through Port Charles."

"Yes."

Alyssa blew out a breath and shook her head, "Okay, I have an idea, but I need you to trust me on this one."

"What," Johnny asked warily. Claudia's plans generally ended with either bloodshed or him bailing her out of jail and, if he remembered her correctly, Alyssa plans probably wouldn't end much differently.

"Geez," Alyssa laughed. "Don't freak. I'm not going to doing anything horrible; I just want to have a nice, _civil_ conversation with Morgan. That's all."

"Not alone. One of use goes with you," Claudia said automatically.

"No. See, I said civil, you and Johnny don't do civil real well where either Corinthos or Morgan are concerned. Anyway, this can be our apology from them, Morgan meets me alone. No

Corinthos, no guards, just me and him in a neutral place of his choosing to talk things over. I'll see if I can get a feel of how much he knows about Ian and Trevor and whoever else and he'll probably be doing the same thing with me. No harm, no foul, everyone gets what they want."

"Especially you," Claudia grinned mischievously.

"What does that mean?"

"I saw the way you looked at him the other day in Corinthos' office."

"What," Alyssa rolled her eyes. "You mean before or after he told me to leave town. Jesus. The man is my dead sister's big brother; I am not interested in anything from him except what he can do for us and what he can tell me about her."

"Oh don't tell me you didn't notice that body and the deep, soulful, puppy dog blue eyes. Come on."

"So the guys not nice eyes, so what? That doesn't mean I'm gonna try and molest him for god's sake. Grow up."

"Please," Johnny scrubbed his hands down his face. "Can we not talk about this?"

Claudia grinned over at her brother and reached out to touch is hand, "You want me to start in on you and Dodo Spencer then?"

"Lulu," Johnny corrected through clenched teeth, "and no."

"Oooh," Alyssa smiled. "Who's Lulu? Some hot, young thing Johnny wants to get nekkid?"

"I think he's probably already gotten her naked."

Alyssa raised her eyebrows and looked over at her younger cousin, "Uh oh, do we need to check and make sure this girl is good enough for you? You know all the men in this family have shitty taste in women."

"Hey," both Claudia and Johnny yelled simultaneously.

"Except your father of course."

"My father and I are the only men in this family."

"Well then," Alyssa rolled her eyes. "I guess that means you have shitty taste in women."

Johnny slouched down in the couch and crossed his arms over his chest, "Do not."

"Whatever," Alyssa pulled out her cell phone. "Anyone got Morgan's number?"

* * *

Jason Morgan stepped through the door of his penthouse to find Spinelli and Maxie Jones sitting on his couch, their heads both hovering over a computer screen and looks of concentration on their faces.

"Hey, Stone Cold," Spinelli looked up from his screen. "How did the conversation with young Michael, the Valkyrie, and Mr. Corinthos Sir, go?"

Jason just shook his head and sat down on the desk next to the door, "Fine."

"Well, that's…good."

"Uh yeah," Maxie grinned when both Jason and Spinelli shot her guarded looks. "That's my cue to get out of here, but I will be back," she warned Spinelli, "and we will finish what we were doing."

"What were you doing," Jason asked after Maxie left.

"Wha—Oh, nothing."

Jason shook his head absently, sat down at his desk and started searching through papers before turning back around to talk to Spinelli who was staring at him, "What?"

"Me?" Spinelli pointed to himself. "Nothing. I just—you seem distracted, did something happen with young Michael?"

"No."

"Okay," Spinelli drew the word out into three syllables and looked down at his computer screen.

"Can you still get into General Hospital's records with that thing?"

"I am still the assassin of cyber space, am I not?" Spinelli asked absently and then looked up to see Jason giving him an annoyed look. "Yes."

"Good. I need you to compare Emily and Alyssa blood to see if they are twins."

"Uh, well," Spinelli scratched his head and stood up. "As smart as the Jackal may be, since I am not a doctor that feat may be somewhat beyond my skills. I wouldn't know what to look for, but…"

Spinelli trailed off and Jason asked, "But what?"

"Well, the bad blon—Maxie did work at General Hospital, sort of, for a short time maybe she could be helpful with this task."

"How?"

"Maybe…maybe if I could work on one of the computers inside the hospital I could compare their medical records, I mean that wouldn't be much but it would be enough to tell us she isn't Nobel Emily—we don't know she's not Nobel Emily yet do we. I mean for sure?"

Jason shook his head, but Spinelli continued on, undeterred, "Listen the Jackal is willing to help in any way that he can, especially if it will give you the closure that many so often talk about where things of this magnitude are concerned. Give me a chance to help you with this Stone Cold. Please."

Jason only nodded, "Alright, but be careful, I don't want you getting into trouble."

"Of course, the Jackal will be most vigilant on this mission of mass importance and I'm sure that Maxie will be a valuable asset to our team."

"Whatever," Jason said before reaching into his pocket and pulling out his ringing phone. "Morgan."

* * *

"This is neutral," Alyssa asked as she opened the door to the grimy room above Jake's.

"Yes."

"Hmm…Maybe I should have had Claudia ask for neutral and sanitary. Will I catch anything if I sit on this bed?" She was already bending down to sit as he shrugged his shoulders. "So what's up? How's the family? Wrongly accuse anyone of kidnapping lately?"

Jason said nothing, only sat on the chair that was pushed up against the wall.

"I bet you liked me a lot better when I was unconscious huh? Just like a man to go for the girl who is on a bed and incapable of speech. So what are we gonna do here? Get into a hard-core staring match? I gotta say, you'd probably win, I don't have much patience."

"You arranged for this meeting."

"Touché. We have a mutual problem, I talked Claudia and Johnny into letting me try to work it out with you myself before things go too far. Are you interested or am I just wasting my breath here?"

"I'm here aren't I?"

"Jesus," Alyssa groaned and leaned back on her elbows. "Claudia was right; you really don't talk much at all. It's kind of annoying."

"You talk a lot."

"Yeah, that's what everyone says. I just don't know when to shut up. Talk, talk, talk. You get used to it."

Jason only raised his eyebrows.

"Well," Alyssa amended, "you would if you were going to be around me a lot, but since I'm betting you plan on avoiding me like the plague I guess that won't be a problem for you now will it?"

Again, Jason said nothing, only stared at her.

"Right," Alyssa shook her head. "Have you ever heard the name Ian Devlin?"

"He's a doctor."

"Give the boy a prize. He's a plastic surgeon. You ever ask yourself what a plastic surgeon is doing in Port Charles, New York. Lotta young starlets around here looking for nose jobs?" Alyssa only quirked an eyebrow when Jason didn't respond. "Probably not."

"So who is he?"

"Oh he's a doctor, but I'm willing to be he isn't here just to do facelifts on the aging women in this town or give boob jobs to the young bimbos. He's got an agenda. Always has. And you may also want to ask yourself why someone who has met me, on more than one occasion, didn't put together my face with Emily Quartermaines…especially since faces are his business. I'm just saying…"

"You aren't saying anything. Why is he here?"

"You know it's not my job to do your job for you, I just wanted to let you know to look out for him and be careful, he'll use whatever he needs to, to win. Trust me."

"Why are you telling me this? Why doesn't one of your cousins just take care of him, unless he's working with them?"

"Good question."

"I'm not playing games with you or your family."

"You'd be up past your bedtime if you tried sweetheart. I'm not playing games either, I'm just telling you he's dangerous and you may want to look out for him, especially since he's listed as Nikolas Cassadine's doctor of record right now."

"So that's all…"

"No," she shook her head. "But that's all I'm going to tell you. Just think of it as a head start, you know he's dangerous, you know where he is, now all you have to do is find out what he's up to."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"Because I'm not interested in fighting with you and I'm not interested in seeing my cousins fight with you. I've done some research on you and Sonny Corinthos and you have yet to come up against someone you couldn't beat…neither has Claudia. I'm not interest in being collateral damage in your fight against her and I'm not interested in seeing someone my sister may have loved being collateral damage in her fight against you, and more importantly I'm not going to either her or Johnny's funerals because of this bullshit. Your issues are with Trevor and Anthony, so are theirs. You don't have to work together, but you certainly shouldn't be trying to kill each other. It makes no sense."

"Fine," Jason nodded and then stared at her.

"That's it? Fine. I give you an olive branch, you take a little nibble and just say fine."

"What do you want me to say?"

"I don't know. Nothing, I guess, which one of us is leaving here first?" She only shook her head when he looked at her confused. "Two things. First, I am not leaving here with you so all the guys down in the bar can give you high fives for nailing some chick upstairs, and second I don't want anyone to see us together. We aren't exactly broadcasting this meeting around town if you hadn't guessed."

Jason only shrugged his shoulders, walked to the door, and opened it before saying, "We had people watching Lansing. He made a call right before you car blew up. We don't know about Zacharra or, I guess, Devlin."

"Thank—" She didn't even finish the acknowledgment before he was out the door.

Alyssa counted to one hundred and twenty, figure two minutes was enough time for people not to assume they were together, unless they were paying attention and then it wouldn't matter anyway, and left the room. She immediately noticed the man standing, blocking her path, at the bottom of the stairs, but she guessed he wasn't working for either Anthony or Trevor from the way he waivered on unsteady legs so she just shook her head and walked to the bottom of the stairs, "Excuse me."

"Hey sweetie," he looked up at her, his green eyes showing a little more comprehension of the situation than she'd expected and said, "Come back upstairs with me."

"Well," Alyssa drew the word out and put her hands on the railing just above his hoping that if he swayed enough she'd be able to move past him quickly. She really wasn't up for a fight, not in her condition. She was still in considerable pain from being thrown from a flaming car and she wasn't moving very quickily. "As appealing as that sounds, I'm really not interested today."

"I wasn't asking." He climbed up the three stairs to stand in front of her with more agility than she'd expected, apparently he wasn't quite as drunk as she'd thought. Or hoped.

"Yeah, I was worried you'd say that. Listen buddy, you don't want to do this with me today alright? Just let me pass."

He reached up, grabbed her by her shoulders and slammed her into the wall next to her so that her head flew back and her neck gave a quick jolt. Before she was completely certain of what, exactly, was happening his hands were off her shoulders, she was sliding down the wall, and there was noise coming from the bottom of the stairs. She could only hear the sounds of a scuffle and wasn't able to make out who the participants were or who was winning.

Jason passed the man standing at the bottom of the stairs moments before and hadn't realized, until he was almost to his car, what it was about the guy that bothered him, but just as he started to open the door to his car he remembered that he seen the same man sitting at the end of the bar nursing a glass of beer that sat untouched as he walked out the door. There was really no reason for him to go back, he told himself as he shut his door and made his way back into the bar, except that he couldn't figure why the guy had been swaying at the bottom of the stairs if he hadn't even finished his glass of beer. Maybe it was it wasn't the same glass, he told himself, or the same man, but something about the situation didn't seem quite right and he realized what it was as he turned the corner to make his way back up the stairs just in time to see Alyssa Zacharra slammed against the wall.

Without thinking he took the three stairs in one quick leap and threw the guy back down them. He pulled him up a couple of times, though it wasn't strictly necessary since the other man had slammed his head on the stairs on the way down, and bashed his head into the ground before turning around and climbing back up the stairs to Alyssa.

"Are you okay…" he touched his hand to the back of her head to make sure there was no blood and when his fingers came back clean he lightly reached down to check her pulse.

"Ugh," she groaned and leaned forward onto his chest. "I'm fine. Just…a little woozy. We really need to stop meeting like this."

"I'm calling an ambulance." But before he could get to his phone she reached out and took his hand in hers.

"Don't. Please. I don't think I could handle the hospital right now, just…just take me home—No," she realized if she went home to Johnny and Claudia that would probably mean a trip to the emergency room anyway, and possibly a murder if they didn't give Jason the time to tell them what actually happened and that he wasn't responsible. "Umm. Just take me a hotel or something where I can sleep off this migraine. I'll call Claude and John and tell them I wanted to stop for a massage or something."

He looked down at her and shook his head in disgust, "I'm not just going to drop you off at some hotel."

"Why not, I asked you to." She started to stand up, but just as she made it to her feet the hallway started spinning and she slumped back against the wall. She turned her head to get one more satisfying look at the man who had attacked her and was met with a surprise, "Where did he go?"

"Who," Jason held her elbow in his hand to balance her and started to step closer to hold her up, but she shoved him back.

"The guy," she pointed to the empty hallway at the bottom of the stairs. "Where'd he go?"

Jason turned his head to look where he left the man and groaned, "He's gone."

She made a disgusted sound and shoved him away, "I can see that. Why did you let him get away?"

He whipped his head around to stare at her and when he saw the serious look on her face he only shook his head.

"What are you doing?" She asked as he lifted her into his arms and carried her down the stairs. "Where are we going?"

"Doctor," was his only response as he carried her out the club to hoots and hollers from the other patrons and a wink from Coleman.

"I said," she wrapped her hands around his neck as he pushed open the bar door, "I don't want to go to the hospital. Are you deaf as well as incompetent?"

This time he just completely ignored her as he opened the passenger side door to his car and dropped her in. He scrubbed his hands over his face as he walked around the back of the car and stared in at her through the back window. She was rubbing her forehead and toying with the cup holder between the two seats.

"What doctor," she asked has he slid into the driver seat. "Some psycho mob doctor who lost his license for operating drunk or didn't even get past med school or something? Because if that is the case then I am not interested. At all."

"Shut up."

"Shut up? Are you serious? You're kidnapping me and when I ask you a few questions you tell me to shut up. Unbelievable."

"I'm not kidnapping you, I'm taking you to a doctor and I could have left you on the stairs. So, yes, shut up."

She rolled her eyes and leaned back against the head rest, "Gee, I don't know what it is that would make me so defensive, I mean you're such a sweet and caring guy."

He only ignored her as he watched the road in front of him to make sure he was going the right way. After a few minutes of silence he turned his head to look at her and noticed her eyes closed and her shoulders slumped. He reached over and shook her saying, "Hey. Hey, wake up."

"I'm up," she groaned as she turned to stare into his panicked eyes. "I'm fine, I just wanted to rest my head. Sorry. I didn't mean to freak you out or anything."

"You didn't."

"Right," she drew out the word and stared out the window. "So who is this doctor? A friend?"

"Yeah."

"A girl friend."

"What," he turned the wheel and looked at her absently out of the corner of his eye. "Huh."

"Your friend, is she going to be pissed off because you're bringing another woman to her place? A woman you just had a meeting with in a seedy bar? Is she the jealous type, this doctor-friend of yours?"

"No."

"No what," she rolled her eyes, annoyed. "No she's not your girlfriend or no she's not the jealous type."

"Neither," he pulled into the apartment garage and parked the car. "Can you walk on your own?"

"I'm not an invalid. I don't know why you're bringing me here anyway…" He was around the front of the car as soon as she trailed off and leaned against the car. He placed his arm around her waist and pulled her up so that she was facing him.

"You were saying?"

"Fine. Maybe I'm not completely healthy. I just…I don't really like doctors. You know? All the poking and prodding and taking of blood and stuff. They're…they always want you to pee in something or, like, give you a shot for something. I don't like it…"

He grinned at her rant and pulled her onto the elevator as she continued on.

"…and why is it that they are always telling you something isn't going to hurt when they know it is. I mean when was the last time you were poked with something and it didn't hurt. I wanna stab one of them with a needle and see if they are still so damn sure it isn't gonna hurt. And then there are the nurses, why do they always want you to imagine walking through a field of flowers? There are things in fields, like bugs and worms and…things. Why would that be calming? A nice, strong run on the beach and a facial and massage to follow it up, that's calming. Fields of flowers are just itchy and they smell bad. I never really understood the whole flower thing either. I mean, yeah, in vases as decoration great, but an actual, like, garden. I don't…" She trailed off as she realized they were stepping off the elevator and he was leading her towards an apartment door.

"Wait," she pulled on his arm as he started to knock. "I don't…I don't know if you guessed, but I am sort of, well, I don't…I'm a little afraid of doctors."

He stared down at her, deadpanned. "Really."

"Okay, obvious, I know, but still…"

"Don't worry," he reached up and knocked on the door. When there wasn't an answer he shook his head and knocked again until he heard a chain being taken off the door.

Alyssa closed her eyes and leaned a little further into Jason as the door was yanked open and a petite brunette stood in the door way with her hair up in a ponytail and pajama pants and a wife beater on.

"Jason," Robin rubbed her hands over her eyes and shook her head. "What are you doing here?"

"Uh." He hadn't exactly thought about how he was going to explain bringing Alyssa Zacharra over at nine o'clock at night. "She hit her head."

"Oh," Robin stepped away from the door and ushered them in. She stared at Alyssa's back and tried to compose herself as the woman who looked exactly like Emily Quartermaine walked into her apartment. "Why didn't yo—"

"Robin?" Patrick Drake walked out from the bedroom in only pajama pants and a bare chest, also rubbing his hands over his eyes. "What's…What's going on here?"

"Uh," Robin looked between Jason and Patrick. "It seems Ms Zacharra…"

"Alyssa," the other woman interrupted.

"Alyssa, hit her head."

"Why didn't you take her to the hospital?"

"Don't like doctors," Alyssa answered from the couch.

"Ah," Patrick walked over to an empty chair, picked up a t-shirt, and threw it over his head. "Yeah, I remember. What happened?" He sat down on the table in front of her and reached to check the pulse in her wrist before pulling up each of her eyelids and looking into her eyes.

"Hit a wall with my head."

"Smart."

"Uhm," Robin looked between her boyfriend and Jason and said, "Jase. Can I see you in the other room?"

Jason looked at Patrick and the other man said, "Sure, go ahead, Alyssa and I are old friends at this point. Aren't we?"

"You don't try to poke me," Alyssa said as she pouted and then relented and nodded to Jason.

He heard Patrick say, "No, no I learned when you reached out and smacked my arm not to try that again," as Robin closed the door to the bedroom.

"What's going on here?"

Jason scrubbed his hands down his face, "She was attacked after we met at Jakes, I couldn't just leave her there and she didn't want to go to the hospital. I didn't know what else to do. Should I have taken her to GH?"

"No," Robin shook her head and sat on the bed. "They probably would have just called Patrick anyway since he put the standing order in her chart that no one who knew Emily sees her unless he approved it. But that's not what I meant. What are you doing with her?"

"I don't know," Jason shook his head and sat on the chair that was across from the bed. "Sonny told me I needed to meet with her, the Zacharra's set it up and after I left there was this guy, he…he looked wrong to me and so I went back in to check on her and he had her up against the wall. I just reacted. The guy got away, but I couldn't leave her there…She, uh, she talks a lot. Too much."

"I've noticed. Jason…"

"She doesn't like doctors or flowers," Jason interrupted.

"What?"

"Doctors and flowers, or gardens, I guess. She doesn't like them. Emily liked flowers a lot and she was a doctor so…"

"She's not Emily."

"I know. I keep…all I can see is the differences, you know, she's got a scar on her eyebrow, her hair is different, she doesn't like doctors or hospitals, she doesn't like gardens, her eyes have more green in them than Emily's did. I can't seem to get all of those things out of my head."

"Jase," Robin shook her hand and scratched her forehead. "It would make sense."

"Sonny thinks she looks like her, Liz says they sound alike, Carly is worried I'll look at her and see Emily and that will distract me, Spinelli too, but I don't see it."

"They're twins Jason, people will see similarities in them, it's normal, they want to look at her and see some piece of the girl they knew and loved…"

"Why don't I?"

"Because you're not everyone else Jason. You don't see things like everyone else does. Think about it this way, you can't really read a map like other people do or look at pictures in the same way, right? So maybe you see this woman differently too, maybe you just have to look at her in a different way than the rest of us do. That's all. Not better, not worse, just different."

"What do you see when you look at her?"

"I see…I see Emily playing on the floor with Michael and at Jake's drinking us all under the table and I see a woman who I don't know and will probably never know. I see a lot of things when I look at her. I see what could have been and what will never be; I see the pain in Monica's face, but that's not the point here is it? What do you see?"

"Is Monica okay?"

"What," Robin shook her head. Sometimes she forgot how Jason could pick up on the small things and zero in on them. "She's fine, I guess. I guess I'm just thinking like a mother…"

"A…mother?"

Robin stood up and flattened her shirt to her stomach and for the first time Jason noticed the little bump sticking out, "You're pregnant? I didn't…"

"You've been a little busy with other things Jason."

He reached out and touched her stomach, "When?"

"Uh, I'm about four months along. It was…after Georgie's funeral. We didn't plan it, but its okay."

"You're happy? You're okay? Everything's…"

"Everything's good," she interrupted, knowing he'd worry about her health. "Patrick is still a little…twitchy, but he's working on it and…I'm gonna be a mother."

Jason smiled and looked down at her again, "That's great, really. I'm happy for you."

"Me too," she laughed and shook her head. She'd also forgotten how good he could be at changing the subject. "Jason. What do you see when you look at her?"

"I don't know," he pinched the bridge of his nose and the chair let out whoosh as he sat back down into it. "At first I thought she looked like Emily, but that was just at first and then I started seeing all the differences and now I can't stop thinking about that."

"You don't want to be…you don't want to use this woman to try and replace your sister Jason, that's admirable, especially considering the danger. There's nothing wrong with it. You've got a lot on your mind with Michael and this woman and Liz and…"

"You know?"

"Oh God," she laughed, "I think everyone knows Jason. You two are just about the worst people to ever try and keep a secret. I'm sorry." She doubled over as he shot her a shocked look and she continued laughing.

"That bad?"

"No, no, I'm sure not everyone knows, I mean the new waitress at Kelly's probably hasn't figured it out."

Jason on shook his head and smiled, "We should get back out there."

"Probably," Robin grinned at him and reached her hand out, "help the pregnant woman up."

"So," Patrick leaned forward on the table and stared into Alyssa eyes. "Anything hurt?"

Alyssa shot him an annoyed looked and said, "I got my head bashed against a wall. What do you think?"

"I think that probably felt pretty bad, but I was asking about other than the general crappiness of having your head bashed against the wall. Any nauseous, neck aches, back aches, blurry vision…"

"I was a little woozy on the way up here."

Patrick smiled. "Well you had your head bashed against a wall, that's to be expected."

"Wow. Are you a comedian or a doctor?"

"Doctor. So what happened—other than the head bashing, I got that part."

"I really don't know. I was coming down the stairs at Jakes and there was this guy there, he sort of creeped me out, but I just thought he was drunk so I decide to keep going and next think I know my head is bouncing off the wall and Morgan is bouncing creepy guys head off the floor."

"Good thing he was there."

"Yeah," she rubbed the back of her head where it was still a little sore. "So I don't have a concussion or anything?"

"Well, to really be sure I'd have to check you out at the hospital, but…" he continued on before she could protest, "I think you'll be fine. Just be careful with yourself and if you have any of the symptoms I asked you about then go to the hospital right away, don't put if off because you don't like doctors. Okay?"

"Alright."

"So what happened? You had a bad experience with a needle when you were young or something?"

"Or something. My dad got sick when I was a teenager and he died. Cancer. I just…I wasn't expecting it; I thought he was the toughest guy in the world and the doctors kept telling us that the treatment was working and then he was just gone. I never really thought he'd die and…I don't know, I haven't really trusted doctors or hospitals since. I mean if someone as strong as him can't be fixed then…"

"Then what does that mean for you," he finished. "Yeah, I get it. My mom died when I was a kid, my dad was her doctor and I thought for sure he would save her. I guess I decided that I wasn't gonna let that happen to any other little boy. Different people, different reactions."

"What about Emily? Do you know why she became a doctor?"

"We never really talked about it, but I think there were a lot of reasons. I guess her first mom died of cancer and I know Monica Quartermaine had breast cancer, so did Emily, and Alan and Monica were both doctors. So I'm sure all of those things played a part. Also, she just liked helping people, saving them, and she was good at it. She one of the calmest people, under pressure, I've ever met."

Patrick noticed the interested look on her face and decided to step a little bit out of his own comfort zone. He said, "You know if you really want to know about Emily, who she was, why she became a doctor, things like that, the best person to ask would be Jason. Most people say he knew her better than anyone and from what I saw that's probably the truth."

"I don't think he likes me much."

"I don't think he likes anyone much, but if there are things you really want to know about her then he's the person to ask. Just think about it."

"Alright," she grinned down at her fingers as she toyed with them. She was always fidgeting when she was uncomfortable. "I thought you were a brain doctor, but your acting like an all around head doctor. When did you get the degree in psychology?"

"About the time I found out my girlfriend was pregnant. Now I can't stop giving people advice."

"Okay," she argued with herself over whether or not to broach this subject, but the friendly feelings she was developing for the man in front of her forced her into it. "Well as long as we're giving each other advice can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"Ian Devlin. I saw you talking and joking with him when I was in the hospital, what is your relationship?"

"We were friends in med school," Patrick answered, confused.

"You know people change. How long has it been?"

"A while."

"Yeah," Alyssa nodded. "I'm just saying, it might be dangerous to rebuild a friendship with a guy you haven't really had a relationship in a while. Especially if you're about to become a father…"

"What…"

"I'm just saying, be careful. People change."

Patrick only nodded his head as Jason and Robin came back into the living room from the bedroom.

"Well," Patrick smiled as he got up from his seat on the table and walked over to Robin, wrapping a protective arm around her waist, "the patient will live. I told her what to be careful of, but I really don't think there was too much damage done. Just a little shock and probably a good bruise."

"Alright," Alyssa stood up, suddenly aware of the tension between herself and Morgan. Tension that she wasn't interested in subjecting a pregnant woman or the doctor who had been very nice to her to. "I think we can go now then. I should probably get home to Johnny and Claudia before they send out a search party. Thank you Doctor Scorpio, Doctor Drake."

"Robin," the other woman said as the four of them walked to the door and she let them out. "And don't mention it."

"I won't," Alyssa said seriously as the door was shut behind her.

"Uhm, would you mind dropping me off at the compound? I don't want to deal with Claudia and Johnny yelling about me driving. I'll call and warn them that you're dropping me off. Okay?"

"Fine," Jason said as he held the elevator door open for her.

"I warned Dr. Drake about Ian."

Jason wanted to be upset. He wanted to ask here where she got off warning civilians about mobsters, but mostly he wanted to kick himself for not doing it first. As soon as Robin told him about being pregnant he should have warned her about the doctor that he'd seen both her and Patrick talking to on more than one occasion, but he just hadn't thought about it.

"Is that okay?"

"It's fine."

Alyssa only nodded her head and for the first time in a long time she had nothing else to say. Except for her call to her cousins telling them that Jason Morgan would be dropping her off and she'd explain to them later there was no speaking on the trip to the Zacharra compound. She said nothing to him, except a quick thank you and he said nothing to her, except a muted _welcome_ as he dropped her off at the compound doors and drove off.


	4. Hospitals and Cabin Fever

**Title:** Identity

**Author:** Girlfearless AKA Christy

Don't own it. Never will.

* * *

"We should hold out on this. Really, what does it matter if he sees you today or if he sees you in a week? And do you really want to deal with him yelling about how your mother betrayed him and how your father was evil and—?"

"Claudia!" Alyssa whipped around and stared at her cousin who had been trying to convince her since they woke up that morning that she shouldn't be visiting Anthony. She'd harped on it over breakfast, after they got dressed, during lunch, in the car, and now that they were outside of his room she still wouldn't let it go. "We're doing this today otherwise Trevor will probably tell him I'm in town and we'll have to deal with him yelling about that being a betrayal. No matter how we cut it he's going to say it's a betrayal so let's get this over with."

"She's right," Johnny piped up from behind them.

"Oh, who asked you?" Claudia turned around to make an annoyed face at her brother and Alyssa smiled and stuck her tongue behind her cousins back causing Johnny to laugh and Claudia to become more annoyed. "What is it with you two? You are acting like children."

"Oh yeah," Alyssa smiled and leaned against the wall, "this coming from the psycho who wanted to have a pillow fight last night. Come on."

"I was drunk!"

"Yes, because that's an acceptable excuse. I can hear you in your therapy sessions now, 'No Doctor I only revert to acting like a five-year-old when I'm drunk.' Come on."

Johnny just smiled and allowed the two of them to continue on. As stressful as everything had been for the three of them in the past few days, and even weeks before Alyssa had come back into the picture, they always made him laugh and feel like everything was going to be okay.

"Oh just suck it up and come on. Look at it this way, for once he won't be yelling about how you're a disappointment. All his anger and insanity will be focused on me and only me." Alyssa threw a cocky smiled over her shoulder and pushed her way into the lion's den.

"Well, well, well," Anthony Zacharra tisked from the corner of the hospital room. "Look who's here, my darling niece. Did you come to twist the knife in my back?"

"Uncle Anthony," Alyssa grinned as she walked around to the back of his wheelchair. "I don't see a knife in your back. Are you imagining things again? Do I need to call a doctor?"

"You know what I mean young lady. Your sister."

"Ah, that."

"Yes. That. Did you think I wouldn't find out?"

"Well, I hoped," she answered under her breath before turning to her cousins, eyebrows raised. She'd sort of hoped that he wouldn't remember seeing Emily Quartermaine the night he broke into Nikolas Cassadine's home, especially since he hadn't mentioned it to anyone else.

"I heard that," Anthony said before wheeling over to his niece and tapping his cheek with his finger.

Alyssa smiled and bent down to give her uncle a kiss on his cheek before standing back up and saying, "Honestly, I didn't know she was here or even if she was still alive. Daddy told me not to tell you about her." She had no problem whatsoever throwing her dearly departed father under the bus for this particular betrayal.

"Hmm. A likely story and you two," Anthony turned to his children, "what do you have to say for yourselves?"

"They didn't—"

"Let them speak for themselves," he interrupted. They both knew she was covering and, apparently, he wasn't going to let her get away with it.

"Johnny didn't know about Alyssa having a twin," Claudia stepped between her brother and her father, "and I agreed with uncle Rudy that there was no reason to tell you. Aunt Gabriella was already dead, Alyssa was safe, and we couldn't find her twin so there was no reason to worry you."

"Oh, of course not. Why would I want to know that I had a niece out there in the world, a niece who was being raised by one of my enemies?"

This time it was Alyssa who stepped between Claudia and Anthony, "She wasn't being raised by your enemy Uncle. She was raised by the Quartermaines and you had no problem with Jason Morgan until shortly before Emily died and that was a result of Trevor using your condition to his advantage so he could make Sonny Corinthos pay for something that happened years ago, when Corinthos was still a child. If you want to be angry at anyone it should be Trevor. Maybe if he hadn't distracted Morgan and Corinthos they would have been able to protect Emily and there would still be time for you to know her." Alyssa wasn't sure if that was the truth or not. There was a strong possibility that Diego Alcazar would have gotten to Emily anyway, but she'd gone over the scenario in her head over and over and the one person she could blame, the one person who was still alive for her to take some of her anger out on, was Trevor Lansing and she had no trouble at all trying to convince her uncle of the same.

"Interesting story," Trevor shook his head as he entered the room. "It's my fault that your father lied about having twin girls and it's my fault that the one he sent away died. I'm always intrigued at the stories you and your cousin come up with when you get together."

"Oh cut the crap," Alyssa turned to look at Trevor. "We both know that you've known I had a twin sister all this time, at least I really did have the excuse of being a child when I found out. And you also know that my father did tell me to keep it a secret."

"That doesn't explain the two meetings you've had with Morgan and Corinthos since you've been in town."

"No, it doesn't. So I will. The first was to shock them, by allowing them to see someone who looked like Emily Quartermaine, into letting Johnny free and the second was to be sure that you and your ego hadn't caused so much damage that we had to go to war with them before we were ready." Alyssa turned back around and kneeled in front of her uncle. "Why don't you ask him, Uncle, when he knew I was meeting Jason and Sonny that first time? Did he find out before my car was blown up or after? Because if it was before then he and I and Claudia were the only ones who I knew who I was…which of the three of us do you think it was mostly likely that planted that bomb?"

"She's right dad," Johnny said as he sat down in the chair in the corner. "I really don't think that Claude or Ally would put a bomb in their own car and the fact of the matter is that Morgan and Corinthos didn't have time to do it. Who else is there?"

"Ian Devlin or—" Trevor could feel them digging the hole he was in deeper and deeper. Why did Alyssa have to come to Port Charles now, when he was so close to finally getting the power he wanted?

"Oh shut up, all of you!" Anthony shook his head in disgust. "None of you can be trusted as far as I can throw you and right now," he motioned to his wheelchair, "that is not very far at all. Johnny, Claudia, and Trevor you can all leave, I want to speak with my niece alone."

"But daddy—"

"Leave!" Anthony yelled at Claudia.

Alyssa turned her head to her cousin and nodded to let her know it was okay as the three of them left the room, "What do you need Uncle?"

"Tell me about your sister."

Alyssa nodded, she knew this was coming so she sat down in the chair Johnny vacated, "Daddy's sister, Paige, adopted her after she was born. Apparently she'd been pregnant and had a miscarriage and so they decided that she would take one of us. After the adoption they moved to Arizona and Daddy told you that she died in child birth. When Emily was young, a preteen, Paige died of cancer. I guess that Paige's husband died a couple of years before she did, but I don't know how. Since Emily didn't have either of her parents left to take care of her the Quartermaines adopted her. That's really all I know right now."

Anthony nodded, "And why did my best friend and my sister lie to me?"

"They were worried you would be upset with them. You knew momma, she only wanted to please you."

"And why did you lie to me?"

"I wanted to find her on my own," Alyssa lied. What she really wanted was to keep her sister away from the insanity of her uncle for as long as possible. "I thought it would be my proof to my father that the way he raised me and the way he tried to train me to take care of the family really did stick. I wanted to be a good daughter."

Anthony nodded. He knew that she was not being completely truthful and she knew that he wasn't really buying what she was saying, but they both also knew that there was nothing they could call each other on.

"Tell your cousins to come back in here."

Alyssa stood up and walked toward the door, "And Trevor?"

"I'll speak to him after, you two can wait together."

"Okay," Alyssa opened the door and motioned for Claudia and Johnny to meet with their father as she stepped out of the room.

"Well, you are a lot like your mother aren't you?"

Alyssa scoffed at Trevor and leaned against the wall.

"You are just as good as she was at lying to Anthony."

"You should know. I mean you've been lying to the man for, what, over twenty years now. Did you really think that you would be allowed to control him forever?"

"You really believe what Claudia has said about me, don't you? Really, Ally, if there is anyone in this family that you should be wary of it's your cousin, she will do whatever it takes to take over and I am just trying to protect all of you."

"Trevor?" She slanted a look at him.

"Yes."

"You do realize that you aren't part of this family, don't you? I mean you say that if there is anyone in this family I shouldn't trust it's Claudia, like you are really a member of this family. You aren't."

"This coming from the woman who didn't even take their last name until after her father died."

"He was my father you ass. Of course I didn't have the Zacharra's last name. Does your son have your last name, do you have your father's last name, why wouldn't I have my father's last name especially considering that for years no one knew I was even Uncle Anthony's niece. I mean really is that all you've got?"

"And what about Morgan?"

"What about him?"

"You're making a mistake trusting that man so quickly. He's dangerous Ally, he could hurt you and your uncle without ever feeling a thing. Do you really want to align yourself with a man like that?"

"Oh I don't know, my uncle has aligned himself with you for years, maybe it's time I find someone who can do a little damage to the family too. How about that?"

"You don't know what you're getting into here, little girl."

She slid up next to him and batted her eyelashes at him, "What am I getting into, big boy?"

He stared down at her, "Jason Morgan will kill you just as soon as look at you and if you keep playing these games with him and your cousin, you will be the one who gets hurt. And really Alyssa, considering all you have to live for and the people who need you, do you really want to take that risk? You know there are people in your life who need you, do you want to leave them alone with no one to defend them…?"

"Get away from her," Claudia stepped out of her father's hospital room and in between her cousin and Trevor Lansing. "Daddy wants to talk to you and Johnny together, so get the hell away from my cousin and go explain yourself to the real head of this family."

Trevor walked away from the two of them and into Anthony's room as Alyssa rolled her eyes at his back and rubbed her forehead.

"What the hell was that about," Claudia asked.

"Nothing," Alyssa shook her head. "He was just trying to get to me, it didn't work. What happened in there," she waived her hand to the hospital room.

"Oh God," Claudia rubbed her forehead and groaned. "He wanted to know what we know about Emily Quartermaine and he wanted to know if you were spending too much time with Morgan and how long we knew about you having a twin sister. And then he started on his ranting about how I was trying to turn Johnny against him and that's when he sent me out and told me to send in Trevor."

"Okay. So he's making some sort of connection between me and Morgan. That could work for us or against us," she reached into her pocket and pulled out her cell phone, but Claudia grabbed it out of her hand.

"What are you doing?"

"I was going to call Morgan."

"What," Claudia looked down at the phone in her hand and started searching through the address book, "do you have his number programmed into your phone or something?"

"Yes," Alyssa snatched the phone back. "I put it in there in case I needed it for something, I didn't want to have to go through your people to get to his people to get to him. I like being able to handle things on my own. Is that okay with you?"

"I bet you wanted to handle things," Claudia laughed.

"Seriously, Claude, do you really want to be cute when we are dealing with all of this crap? Is that smart?"

"Sorry, I just…You like him."

"I'm careful around him so you don't have to worry, but if you must know, yes, I like him. In the same way that that I would like any guy who took me to a doctor after I had my head bashed against a wall, instead of leaving me on the floor to bleed as too many men I know would."

"Okay. But what are you going to say when you call him? Are you planning on asking him to play up your connection through your sister or play it down? What is the goal here Ally?"

"I don't know. I guess play it up, if we can convince your father that Corinthos and Morgan aren't threats, for now, then maybe we can buy ourselves some more time to convince him that Trevor is the real threat here, cause Claudia that man is on edge. If we don't handle him soon then I don't know what he'll do to keep his power, but I know it'll probably be bloody."

"What did he say?"

"Nothing," she shook her head and played with the pockets of her jeans. "He just said that I had people who needed me and that I should be careful, you know stuff like that."

"Ally, did he threaten—"

"Don't," Alyssa cut her cousin off and looked around the hallway. "Just leave that alone for now. I'm here. Let's handle one thing at a time."

"Okay. Alright. So what, we try to convince Morgan to spend more time with you so that, what…?"

"So that it makes Trevor a little more uncomfortable with his position in life. If he thinks that we are working with Morgan and not trying to kill him then he may screw up."

"Okay and what do they get out of this?"

"That's the problem," Alyssa kicked at the floor. "I'm hoping they want Trevor gone as badly as we do. If not, I don't know. I guess I could use the fact that I gave him a heads up about Ian to our advantage, but we both know that the only reason I did that was to get him wary of Devlin before the man ratted you out. Maybe this is when we play the kid card."

"The kid card? Alyssa, is that really safe? Do you really want to…" Claudia trailed off as she noticed the determination on her cousin's face. "Okay. Do what you think you have to."

Alyssa shook her head and leaned back against the wall as Johnny came out of Anthony's room.

"Hey," he looked between the two women. "What's up?"

"Nothing—"

"We're thinking about using the kids to get Morgan on our side," Alyssa interrupted. "What do you think?"

"You might have to."

"What happened in there with your dad and Trevor?"

Johnny blew out a breath, "I don't think dad trusts us, but I don't think he trust Trevor either. The problem is that he knows that Trevor has years of information on the business in his head and in his records and we don't, so if it comes down to picking a side he may screw us over to save himself."

"So we need something on Trevor that's bigger than whatever he has on dad?"

"I'm going to call Morgan, see if I can get him to meet with me again. Johnny, are you cool with that?"

"You're taking a gun this time," Claudia said before her brother could answer. "And no bars."

"Whatever. Johnny is this okay with you?"

"Yeah, yeah. What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to see what I have to do get him on our side," Alyssa shrugged. "And you two are going to put your heads together and see what we can use on Trevor." Alyssa shot Claudia a look and both women realized that if it came down to it the older woman would have to step up and play her part, just as Alyssa would, if there was no other way to bring Trevor down.

"Plotting again I see," Trevor said as he walked out of Anthony's room. "Your father is resting, so now would be a great time to try and smother him in his sleep. If you're interested."

"That really seems like more of your thing, don't you think Trevor," Claudia retorted.

"Well," Alyssa shot both of her cousins knowing looks and started to leave. "As much as I'd love to stay around for this family reunion, I've got somewhere I need to be. Johnny, I'm stealing your car, you can ride back with Claude, is that okay?"

"Fine," Johnny shook his head and watched his cousin walk off as his sister started arguing with Trevor again. For years his sister and cousin had protected him and now, he knew, it was soon going to be his turn to protect them and stand by them.

* * *

Alyssa leaned back against the door of Johnny's car as she waited for Jason Morgan to join her. She'd called him as she left the hospital and told him that she had more information for him and while she knew he wasn't particularly interested in hearing it he told her he'd meet her in fifteen minutes at a place called Vista Point. From the mess of beer bottles and condom wrappers she saw she figured that, during the weekends and probably after nightfall, Vista Point was the place where high school boys took high school girls to get lucky in the back seats of their beat up cars. Oh, the memories.

Alyssa grinned inwardly as Jason rolled up on his motorcycle, "Do you have something against meeting in sanitary places? First a seedy bar and now a place where teenagers come to get their rocks off. Seriously, does this work for you?"

Jason got off the bike and looked around nonchalantly. "Yes. You wanted quick and quiet."

Alyssa ignored the possible implications of his words and said, "I really am going to have to start adding sanitary to the list."

When Jason said nothing she shook her head and pushed off of the car and walked over to him, "Trevor is getting dangerous. He knows that my uncle is starting to trust him less and less and pretty soon he's going to get desperate and that isn't good for either of us, unless we can control how it happens."

"What do you mean?"

She blew out a breath, "We need to make him think that taking a shot at your boss or my family isn't in his best interests right now and the best way I can think to do that is for him to believe that we trust each other and will stand by each other of something goes wrong. So I'm suggesting more than just a truce, I'm suggesting that you and I start becoming more friendly and play up our connection through our sister." She could see his response on his face before he even said anything and so she pushed forward, "Listen, this is not the way I wanted this to work out either. Okay? I figured that I would find my sister alive and well and I'd have time to get to know her and for her to get to know me and then maybe we would be able to look at each other as family one day, but that's not the way it worked out. I have to deal with that, so do you. I'm not trying to hurt you or screw you or anyone else over, I am just trying to protect my family and I am offering you a way to do the same. That's all."

"And if I say no?"

Alyssa groaned and answered, "If you say no then Trevor will continue playing on my uncle's weaknesses until he believes that he has to get rid of all of us. Maybe, if you're lucky, though it's doubtful, he'll decide to take us out first. Do you really want to take that ris—?" Before she could finish her rant he was reaching out and pulling her down to the ground in front of the car.

"What the hell are you…?" The first shot rang out and hit the tire of Johnny's car and the second one shatter the window above their heads. When she started to look up to see who was shooting at them Jason shoved her head back down and glared at her.

"What are you doing?"

"Trying to see who is shooting at us."

"Don't."

"Why?"

"Because," he pushed her back against the car door. "If you can see them well enough to get a good look at them then they can see you well enough to shoot you."

"Oh." She shook her head and wanted to kick herself. She knew that, it wasn't like she'd never been shot at before. Hell, she was a Zacharra, even if she hadn't been claimed as one her whole life, that meant she'd pretty much been brought into the world knowing that she was going to be shot at more often than not. "Right. What do we do? We're not going to be going anywhere in my car…"

"Do you have a cell phone?"

"Ummm," she bit her lip and shot him a distressed look. "It's in my purse, in the trunk of the car. Claudia kept calling me on the way here so I stopped and threw it back there. Do you have yours?"

He nodded toward the broken cell phone on the ground in front of them.

"Do you want me to try and get in the trunk and get mine?" Even as she said it five more rounds were fired into the back of the car, including the trunk. "Okay, well that might not work now. What do we do? We can't drive Johnny's car and on your bike we'll pretty much be sitting ducks."

"Do you have a gun on you at least?"

She reached behind her, "Yes."

"Okay, here's what we're gonna do. I want you to run for those trees over there," he pointed to the left of them about fifteen feet away, "and I'll cover you and then when you get over there I want you to cover me. There is a cabin back in those woods and we are going to make our way there. Okay?"

She nodded and when he started firing over the hood of the car she made a beeline for the cover of the trees without looking back. Once she got to the edge of the woods she turned back around and fired a warning shot into the air to tell him he could follow and then she started firing in the general direction she thought the shooting was coming from. As he ran over to her she tried to see exactly where the shots were coming from, but she could only tell that there were no more than two or three shooters on the hill above them shooting from behind their own cover of trees.

"Alright." Jason moved her so that they were about five feet further into the woods and ten feet to the right from where the shooters were aiming at. "Do you see this trail?" He pointed to a barely visible trail behind them. "I want you to follow it as far as you can, after about a half a mile it will break off and go right, then you'll need to…"

"Wait," she interrupted when she realized he wanted her to go alone into the woods. "No. I'm not leaving you here."

"Those guys are going to know where we came into the woods at. It won't be hard for them find us. If you go ahead back then I can take them out."

"And if you can't. What then? You're, at the very least, shot and possibly dead and I am stuck in a place I don't know with only five bullets and no way of calling for help. No. We go together. With any luck they won't realize we don't have a phone and they won't follow and if they do at least we'll be together."

Jason shook his head and put his hand on the small of her back to lead her down the trail, "Okay, just stay ahead of me."

"Good. Great," she stepped in front of him and started following the trail. "Do you know exactly where we're going? I'd rather not get lost in the woods and have to eat you, but make no mistake, if it comes down to it I will chop you up into little pieces and cook you over a fire."

Jason shot a bemused look at the back of her head and continued to guide her down the trail. "Don't worry. I know where the cabin is."

"You've been there lately."

"Sort of, but I pay for the upkeep anyway. It's mine."

"You don't seem like the cabin in the woods type of guy."

"I like the quiet," he responded and the put his hand on her shoulder to turn her around. When she looked at him he brought a finger to her lips and said, "So shut up."

"Fine," she said under her breathe and went in the direction he guided her. When they got to the end of the trail she was happy she'd made him come with her because there was no way she would have been able to find her way from there without him. They went left and right and passed bunches of trees that looked exactly like each other until they finally came to an opening in the woods. She was shocked when she looked out from the trees and saw the cabin; she'd expected some rickety old shack that consisted of one door and not much else. She was certainly surprised.

"Wow," she stepped out of the woods, "I would never have guessed this was back here."

The cabin, to her, looked damn near comfortable. There was a closed in porch that she could easily picture an old couple and their dog spending the night gazing at the stars together on. On both sides of the solid front door were windows, but she could not see in through the thick curtains covering them. The wood was neither old nor brand new looking and she figured that the cabin must have been there for at least twenty years. "How did you find this place?"

"Bike accident," he answered and picked the lock. He didn't carry the keys with him at all times.

"What about the windows?"

He banged on the window in the front door and said, "They're all bullet proof. Just in case. Don't worry it's sturdier than it looks. It just doesn't have electricity."

"So…no phone."

"No phone," he took her hand and pulled her through the door and she heaved it shut behind them.

Again, she was shocked. The place was actually sort of cozy looking, with its couch and fireplace, and kitchen area with table. She could almost imagine spending a couple of days out here to get some peace of mind herself. If people weren't trying to kill her. She pointed to a hallway to the right of them and asked, "Bedroom?"

"Yeah, and bathroom."

"So what do we do now? Start a fire?"

"No. They'll be able to see the smoke if we do that. There are some blankets that we'll have to use to keep warm and we need to stay in here after I get them. The windows are safe, but stay away from them anyway and I am going to block off all of the doors, so that anyone coming in will have to come through the front. Wait here."

She nodded and started looking around.

Jason walked back into the bedroom and scrubbed his hands down his face. He was not expecting to get trapped, alone, with Alyssa Zacharra and he definitely didn't want to bring her with him to the cabin, but he realized it was his only choice. He had been honest with her when he told her he found the place after a bike accident. What he didn't tell here was that no one else knew he'd bought it. When he left town after catching Sonny and Carly sleeping together, he'd had a small accident and found the cabin in the woods and when he made the decision to come back to Port Charles and stay he' had it fixed up in case he ever needed to get away. He'd only used it a few times since he'd bought it, but those few times it had been a valuable asset, especially right after Emily died and he needed time alone somewhere that held no memories of her to haunt him. And now Alyssa Zacharra was wandering around the other room.

"Do you need help with something?" He whipped around to see her standing in the doorway and he had to do his best to concentrate on the length of her hair and the scar above her eye so that he wasn't fooled into believing that his sister was haunting him.

"Yeah," he handed her the blankets. "Take these into the other room."

"Okay…" she started to walk away and then turned back around. "You don't have any clothes here do you?" She gestured between them and he realized that while it hadn't been raining they were still both wet front sweat and the dew that had covered the trees from the rain the day before.

"No, but the blankets should help and…we'll figure it out."

"Okay," she turned away from him and when back into the other room. She could hear him moving around the furniture from the bedroom to block the doors and though she wanted to help she knew, from the look he'd given her when she asked a few minutes ago, that it would not be welcome so she sat down on the couch, wrapped herself in one of the blankets and imagined that the fire in front of her was burning and giving off heat to warm her.

"Are you okay," she looked up as he walked into the room and nodded her head at him. "Good. We're as secure as we can be right now."

"Do you think they followed us?"

"No, but we'll stay the night to be sure and I'll go back out at first light to get my bike."

"We'll go back out. We're in this together now."

"Fine."

"So what do we do now?"


End file.
